My story with guitar

Let me tell you the story about my guitar journey. Though I was always interested in learning an instrument or to sing since school days, it was not until my undergraduate years that I finally decided to give it a try. Without any formal training or background I decided to first move from humming songs to singing. The transition from music listener to active participation was not without embarrassing incidents. I started that transition during the second year of my undergrad and it was not easy for my hostel mates :). My favourite song at that time was “Pyar mujhse kiya jo tumne” and was trying my best to sing. But what I didn’t imagine was that my hostel mates would one of the days brand me as “cacophonix”, tape my mouth and parade me through the hostel.

Hm..that was enough to make transition from vocal to musical instrument, and I decided to learn guitar. But I also decided, one day, I will take a sweet revenge… …. That day came two years later. In the final year summer with temperatures hovering close to 40 C, the lights on the campus went away. I was just practicing the song “Hotel California” in my room. Few of my friends joined in since they had nothing else to do!! (thats what they said). And everybody was sweating in that summer heat, and I played on few songs. After 20 min or so my friend quintal knocked on the door and said “what are you guys doing here in the dark sweating”…. (Power was restored about 10 min ago)….

Boy! That was my moment :). The same people who had branded me cacophonix were fully immersed in my guitar playing in spite of the sweating in the summer heat.

But those two years while I was learning guitar were not easy. In the beginning my friend Tapan helped me to get me started. It needs lot of patience and persistence to keep on going. 90% of people who pick up guitar do not reach a stage where they can play more than 5 songs correctly.

(Above with Vaibhav singing, UCI Campus)

FastForward…..I created my first website in 2000 when I was doing my MS and shared few chords and notes online. At that time there was hardly anything existing online and quite a few people requested chords of popular songs. I shared some of my notes and copies of which (with some adaptation) is still being circulated around. But after finishing university, got little busy and only recently decided to create a website dedicated to learning hindi songs on guitar.

These days with so many resources available online, it is difficult to keep focus when learning guitar. With indian-guitar-chords-tabs.org I would like to share all I have and help beginners to enable them play these songs and enjoy. I will also review softwares and online training and rank which are the best. My aim is that you use your time in an effective and efficient manner and not get stuck with at one level or you get bored that your progress is slow. Previous posts like “Fastest and best way to find chords” and “Free tools to improve your skills” were in that direction.

I hope you find this site useful. I have many ideas on what I want to do with this site and lets see which of them see the light of the day.

21 comments for “My story with guitar”

dheeraj

April 2, 2010 at 11:12 am

yar thnkzz a lot that generous people like u still exist..and ya nice to hear ur story…hehe..in ma case i started learning gitar from ma college days but ya i was always a good singer…thnkzz 1nce again..:)…lets c if we can meet once i come to delhi…right now i m in congo,africa…

Anurag, I’m really inspired by your story..I’m hypothetically at the same stage as you were… I’m in hostel pursuing my B.Tech…and learning guitar…
Your guitar chord book is immensely helpful with the video appended, but one lapse I found that I can neither pause nor rewind or forward the video..When it comes to learning a particular (tougher) beats of chord or tab, it is tedious to replay it and wait for that part of the song.. If you can plug out this little knick-knack, it would fine-tune ur book better..

thanks for the feedback, Migom.
I will definitely do that when I update the chordbook. For the time being, I will send a link the link to download all the videos which are embedded in the book. You can download them and play with media player of VLC player and have possibility to pause in the middle.

hey i want to request to plz teach us or especially me..songs like hotel california..i really love it and i want to play it for my sis who gifted me the guitar..
plz anyhow help me learn such kind of best English guitar songs..
and do reply me as soon as possible..coz my sis is coming in 2 or 3 days..
so plz plz help me with these English songs..
as i had been listening to these english songs since 5 yrs..i really want to play them very finely..
looking for your reply..
thanks in advance..

Anurag, your guitar journey really inspired me. I wanted to pursue guitar learning in bollywood style for so many years and could not find so far. Your Bollywood song chord book is really an amazing piece of work. Many thanks for taking your time and sharing with all.
Keep up the good work.

thnx anuragji its this site and ur comments abt guitar that i actually made it to learning a guitar i dnt wannna be a professional guitarist bt always wantd to play on with thi butiful buddy (guitar) and this story of urs is surely boost to my aim 🙂 thnx once again i shall be bothring u alwys with my guitar probs lolol hope u dnt mind that !!!!!!!!!

That was a good story Anurag. I believe that music enriches life a lot. Learning to play the guitar well was on my bucket list… With family, career, I just never got a chance to pursue it until one day I just hit me. Life would just drift away and the time to start is now. I found myself a good teacher and love every moment of this wonderful journey.

Hey Anurag, I started p[laying guitar at the age of 18 and i am also 18 now ha ha.Its been a month only when i purchased a guitar and before this i have never touched a guitar. But thanks to you , with ur chord book and tips i am now able to play so many songs in between a month. Thanks a lot and plz continue helping me bcoz i want to be a perfect guitarist……..

Thanks for your story, this is really inspiring and will provide motivation for beginners. I’m a beginner too and would want you to provide some sort of plan for learning and mastering guitar. If you publish step by step guide i mean what to start, how to progress, some time limits. I hope you get my request as there are lotsa stuff on internet it is quite intimidating for a beginner, Please help i know you might be busy with your life but please give us direction.

Hi Anurag
Thanks!inspiring story. I am a beginner and I am confused with looking at the guitar chords online. For example c#(SHARP) major , one web site shows it as playing with fingers on chords in 2, 3, 4th frets and other the youtube vedio of song playing “Tum se hi” uses three fingers in fret 6. so there is no standard concensus about chords. please send me the guitar course from basics including standard chords. thanks.

Your inspirational story forced me to comment ur blog. This made me remember my past too. I played “Papa Kehte Hai” for the first time infront of my friends and they still laugh @ that harsh discourdance moment.

Then the time came after a year when I played infront of the crowd .. and that moment is also memorable..